Sanitary floors for animals



Y July 16, 1963 A. H. slEvERs 3,097,625-

SANITARY FLOORS FOR ANIMALS Filed sept. 13, 19Go 2 sheets-sheet 2 UnitedStates Patent O 3,097,625 SANITARY FLOORS FOR ANIMALS Albert H. Sievers,Rte. 1, Fielden, Ill. Filed Sept. 13, 1960, Ser. No. 55,693 4 Claims.(Cl. 119-15) This invention relates generally to livestock equipment andmore particularly -to a self-cleaning -feeding floor designed to beemployed with hogs.

In most hog pens, an open area is provided in which the hogs can wallowin the mud or such. This area is generally refer-red -to as a loaiing.area and -is most often kept extremely damp. A second area referred toas a sleeping area is also generally provided with means in saidsleeping area for covering the area to protect the hogs from rain andwind. Further, .of course, feeders are disposed in the pen in the formof troughs for permitting the hogs to eat therefrom. Often, the feedersare of the self-service type with automatic means being provided 'fordispensing the feed into the trough. It is of course desirable toinclude means in the pen for facilitating the removal of manure, etc. Inview of this, it is the principal object of `this invention to provide anovelly arranged feeding floor for hogs which may -be more easily andquickly cleaned than heretofore known oors.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a novel feedingfloor for hogs wherein the portions thereof are so arranged that whenwater is dispensed thereon, the water will ow, carrying the manure anddebris therealong, into a centrally disposed sewer trench. The sewertrench communicates with a pit, spreader, or creek.

It is a still more particular object of this invention to provide anovel feedingy iloor for hogs which is relatively simple in constructionand design but which permits and facilitates the simple -and easycleaning `of the feeding floor. The construction shown herein, ybeingsubstantially simple in design, is relatively inexpensive to employ withthe economic saving in labor involved in cleaning clearly warranting theuse of the invention.

These together with other objects and `advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE l is a top plan view of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along the plane 2--2 ofFIGURE l; and

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along the plane 3-3 ofFIGURE l.

Continuing reference is now made to the drawings wherein numeralgenerally represents the feeding floor construction including a pair ofspaced loaiing floor sections 12 and 14. The sections 12 and 14 arespaced by a sewer trough 16. A fence 18 separates the sewer trough 16from the loang floor section 1.2 while fence 20 separates the sewertrough 16 from loang floor section 14. Although the dimensions of theinvention are not critical, exemplary dimensions will be mentionedherein for the purpose of fully disclosing an operative embodiment ofthe invention. It is suggested that each of the loafing floor sections12 and 14 be 10 feet in width with the sections having a slope or dropof 1 foot in the l() feet width. The sewer trough 16 should he 2 feetwide and l foot deep and should gradually slope toward one end of thefeeding floor. Particularly noting FIGURE 2, it -will be appreciatedthat the oor -of the trench 16 slopes downwardly to the left andterminally communicates with an enclosed pit 22. It is contemplatedIthat the trench could communicate with a pit, spreader, or creek forthe purpose of carrying manure and debris away.

3,097,625 Patented July 16., 1963 ICC A shut-off gate 24 is providedwith upper handle 26 and a lower valve portion 28 which conforms in sizeto the cross-section of the sewer trench. The shut-off gate 24 ismounted at the end of the fences 18 and 20 for vertical sliding movementinto or out of the trench 16. When the gate 24 assumes a loweredposition, of course, communication is blocked between the trench 16 andthe pit 22. When however the gate is raised to the position shown inFIGURE 2, Water and debris in the sewer tren-ch 16 may flow into the pit22.

Formed contiguous with the loaling floor sections 12 and 14 are sleepingdoor sections 30 and 32. The sleeping floor sections 30 and 32 are each8 feet in width land drop l inch in that 8 feet toward the loaling floorsections 12 and 14 for the purpose of keeping out dust or moisture. Thesleeping floor sections 30 and 32 are closed at their ends Iby walls 34.and -at their sides by Walls 36. The upper edges of the walls 34 slopedownwardly toward the sewer trench 16. Supported on the upper edge o-fwall 34 is a roof portion 38. The walls 34 an-d 36 and roof 3S comprisea shed covering the sleeping floors 30 and 32. The shed is 3 feet highadjacent the junction between the loang and sleeping oors `and is 5 feethigh at the side wall 36. Carried beneath the roof 38 at the forwardedge thereof is a pipe 40 perforated at 42. An appropriate valve 44 isoperatively disposed therein. The perforations in the pipe 40 aredirected toward the loang oor 12. It will therefore be appreciated thatby proper manipulation of the valve 44, water may be dispensed from thepipe 40 through the perforates 42 onto the Loafing oors 12 and 14. Dueto the slope o-f the loaiing oors 12 and 14, the water will carry manureand debris into the sewer trench 16. If the shutoff gate is initially inthe lowermost vertical position, the trench 16 is closed, therebypreventing flow of water from the trench 16. As the shut-off gate 24 onthe lower end of the trench hold-s back the water the full length of thetrench, the trench iills up with manure and debris which then may flowout together with the water into the pit 22 when the Shut-olf gate iselevated.

Beside the sheds `formed over each of the sleeping oors 30 and 32, ashed 50 similar to the sheds over the sleeping floors 30 and 32 isprovided 'at the ends of the loang floors 12 and 14. 'I'he shed 50includes side wall 52 and end wall 54. A roof 56 slopes from the endwall 54 toward the sewer trench 16. Within the shed 50 is disposed allloor 58 in which is disposed a `feeder trough 60. It will be notedthat access may be had to the feeder 60 from either of the loatinglioors 12 or 14. If desired, a yfence may be extended from the end ofthe trough 60 to the fences 18 and 20 for completely separating the hogsin one area of the arrange ment from t-he hogs in the other portion.

Each of the sleeping floors 30 and 32 is provided with supplementfeeders 62 and '64 respectively. Moreover, each of the sleeping floors30 and 32 may be divided into individual pens or such by partitions 66as shown particularly in FIGURE l.

A11 of the floor portions of the invention are formed of concrete withthe shed roof and walls Aformed of any satisfactory material. In use,the loang floors 12 and 14 are normally kept wet for providing a placefor the hogs to wallow. However, when it rains or such, the hogs willretire to the sleeping floors 30 and 32. In order to clean the manureand such from the loafing floors 12 and 14, water is dispensed from thepipes 40 and directed upon the loafing floors 12 and 14 to carry manureand debris into the sewer trench 16. As noted previously, by propermanipulation of the shut-off gate 24, the water and manure may be heldin the trench 16 until -it iills up along the length thereof and thenthe water and floating manure may be released into the pit 3 Z2. It willbe appreciated that the loang floors 12 and 14 are not provided with anyroof or covering. The sheds over the sleeping floors 30 .and 32 and overthe self-service feeder 60 provide the protection from wind and rain.

The fences 18 and 20 along the open sewer trench can be utilized to keephogs in different bunches segregating them perhaps on the basis of thetype of feed employed in feeders 62 and 64, The same floor and shed canbe used to lfarrow sows by putting one gate in the shed and one from theshed to the sewer trench fence to keep each sow separate. Moreover, thelower ends of the loang floors 12 and 14 adjacent the shut-off gate 24may be closed by a fence 70.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desi-red to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A self-cleaning feeding floor comprising a pair of loafing floorsections, an open sewer trench disposed between said sections, each ofsaid sections sloped toward said trench, and means spaced verticallyabove said sections for discharging Huid into said sections for carryingdebris on said sections into said trench, and sleeping oor sectionsdisposed immediately adjacent said loaiing iioor sections remote fromsaid trench, and shed means mounted around said sleeping floor sections,said shed means including a closed roof, side, and end walls, said roofsloped toward said trench, said fluid discharge means including aperforated pipe secured to said roof above the junction between saidsleeping and loang floor sections and directed toward said loang oorsection.

2. A self-cleaning oor comprising a loang floor section, an open sewertrench disposed 1along one edge of said section, said section slopingtoward said trench, means spaced vertically above said section Ifordischarging fluid into said section for carrying debris on said sectioninto said trench, a sleeping floor section disposed immediately adjacentsaid loaiing oor section remote from said trench, and shed means mounted`around said sleeping floor section, said shed means including a closedroof, sides, and end walls, said roof sloped toward said trench, saidiluid discharge means including a perforated pipe secured to said `roofabove the junction between said sleeping and loating oor sections anddirected toward said loang oor section.

3. A sanitary oor for animals comprising a sloping iioor section, anopen sewer trench disposed `at the lower edge lof said sloping Hoorsection, said sewer trench sloping from one end of said lower edge tothe other end, iluid discharging means positioned above the upper edgeof said sloping floor section, a disposal means located Iadjacent ythelower end of the sloping sewer trench whereby uid ldischarged at theupper edge of the tioor section will wash sewage down the floor sectioninto the trench and down the trench into the disposal means so as tomaintain the proper sanitary condition, a movable shut-off gate disposedat the lower end of said trench selectively permitting 4.or preventingflow from said sewer trench so as to allow `for a ushing thereof, and an-animal excluding fence along the 4open sewer trench separating saidtrench from the sloping floor section.

4. A self-cleaning feeding floor comprising a pair of loaiing floorsections, an open sewer trench disposed between said sections, each ofsaid sections sloped toward said trench, and means spaced verticallyabove said sections for discharging uid into said sections for carryingdebris on said sections into said trench, sleeping floor `sectionsdisposed immediately Iadjacent the loating floor sections remote fromsaid trench, shed means mounted around said sleeping iioor sections,said shed means including a closed roof, side, vand end walls, and ananimal excluding fence along each side of the open sewer trenchseparating the trench from the adjoining oor sections.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS830,842 Makowski Sept. l1, 1906 880,700 Turney Mar. 3, 1908 2,437,210Riebli Mar. 2, 1948 2,499,174 Turner Feb. 25, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS164,382 Austria Nov. 10, 1949

1. A SELF-CLEANING FEEDING FLOOR COMPRISING A PAIR OF LOAFING FLOOR SECTIONS, AN OPEN SEWER TRENCH DISPOSDED BETWEEN SAID SECTIONS, EACH OF SAID SECTIONS SLOPED TOWARD SAID TRENCH, AND MEANS SPACED VERTICALLY ABOVE SAID SECTIONS FOR DISCHARGING FLUID INTO SAID SECTIONS FOR CARRYING DEBRIS ON SAID SECTIONS INTO SAID TRENCH, AND SLEEPING FLOOR SECTIONS DISPOSED IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT SAID LOAFING FLOOR SECTIONS REMOTE FROM SAID TRENCH, AND SHED MEANS MOUNTED AROUND SAID SLEEPING FLOOR SCTIONS, SAID SHED MEANS INCLUDING A CLOSED ROOF, SAID, AND END WALLS, SAID ROOF SLOPED TOWARD SAID TRENCH, SAID FLUID DISCHARGE MEANS INCLUDING A PERFORATED PIPE SECURED TO SAID ROOF ABOVE THE JUNCTION BETWEEN SAID SLEEPING AND LOAFING FLOOR SECTIONS AND DIRECTED TOWARD SAID LOAFING FLOOR SECTION. 